Arriva Trains Merseyside

Arriva Trains Merseyside[1] was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Merseyrail Electrics franchise from January 1997 until July 2003, when the Merseyrail railway franchise was transformed into the local Merseyrail concession, owned by the Merseyrail Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel).

Arriva Trains Merseyside
Overview
Franchise(s)Merseyrail
19 January 1997 – 20 July 2003
Main region(s)Merseyside
Other region(s)Lancashire
Cheshire
Fleet size53
Stations called at67
Stations operated66
Parent companyArriva
Reporting markME

History

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The Merseyrail Electrics franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to MTL with operations commencing on 19 January 1997.[2] MTL retained the Merseyrail Electrics brand.

On 18 February 2000, MTL was purchased by Arriva,[3][4] and on 27 April 2001, rebranded as Arriva Trains Merseyside.[5]

On 23 April 2003, Serco-Abellio were awarded the Merseyrail Electrics franchise with the services operated by Arriva Trains Merseyside transferring to Merseyrail on 20 July 2003.[6]

Rolling stock

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Arriva Trains Merseyside inherited a fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple units from Regional Railways. It also inherited a fleet of Class 73 locomotives and Class 936 EMUs for use on infrastructure trains; these were sold in 2002.

Class Image Type Top speed Number Routes operated Built
 mph   km/h 
73 Loco 80 129 4 Northern Line
Wirral Line
1962
507   EMU 75 120 32 Northern Line
Wirral Line
1978–1980
508/1   EMU 75 120 21 Northern Line
Wirral Line
1979–1980
936   EMU 60 97 3 Northern Line
Wirral Line
1955–1956

Depot

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Arriva Trains Merseyside's fleet was maintained at Birkenhead North Depot.

References

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  1. ^ Companies House extract company no 3007941 Arriva Trains Merseyside Limited formerly Merseyrail Electrics Limited
  2. ^ "Local bus company MTL wins the Merseyrail Electrics franchise". Rail Magazine. No. 296. 15 January 1997. p. 11.
  3. ^ Recommended Cash Offer for MTL Services Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Arriva 18 February 2000
  4. ^ "Arriva buys MTL for £84m". Rail Magazine. No. 378. 8 March 2000. p. 13.
  5. ^ "Name changes for Arriva TOCs". Rail Magazine. No. 408. 2 May 2001. p. 9.
  6. ^ Osborne, Alistair (24 April 2004). "Merseyrail franchise goes Dutch". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2023.

Further reading

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  • Hunt, John (7–20 October 1998). "Sparkies 'cross the Mersey...". Rail. No. 341. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 28–33. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.
Preceded by Operator of Merseyrail franchise
1997–2003
Succeeded by